Waste water, not weather, may have killed thousands of fish in the Indian River Lagoon this past week, St. Lucie County Mosquito Control Director Jim David said Tuesday.
"We still have to wait for the test results," David said, "but the appearance of the water, the odor, the fact that the fish are dying — it's very suggestive of the presence of raw waste water."
Thousands of dead snook and mullet were found at Blind Creek and Little Mud Creek, north of the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant, and at Pete Stone Creek, near Bear Point, where David described the water as greyish brown with white scum on the surface and a very bad odor.
Initially, David thought water released from Lake Okeechobee could be to blame, but despite recent rains, water managers haven't drained the lake.
"We've been trying to save as much water as we can right now since June and July were so dry," said Randy Smith, spokesman for the South Florida Water Management District.
David credited a resident who called his office late Tuesday afternoon with the theory of waste water.
Following that tip, scientists with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection will sample the lagoon water today for indications of raw waste, David said.
"There is a waste water pipe that goes across the river at the
That pipe belongs to the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority, whose spokesman, Mac Hamilton, denies blame: "We've had no leaks — we are not a contributing factor."
St. Lucie County has a waste treatment plant a few miles north of the nuclear power plant, but an official there also denied involvement.
"We haven't had any reported leaks," Utilities Director Mike Bowers said. "We would know if we were losing pressure in our system. An open break is fairly obvious and easy to detect."
Meanwhile, scientists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
took samples of water and dead fish Monday and have sent them to a laboratory
in